Railway-train-stopping device.



No. 810,916. PATENTED JAN. 30,1906;

' s. L. CRAWFORD.

RAILWAY TRAIN STOPPING DEVICE.

' Inventor Attoneys Kai? APPLICATION IIL W|tnesse UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 30, 1906.

Ap lieaaon'tlerira s, 1905. I satires-259.471.

T all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, SHERMAN LIVINGsToNE C AWFORD, a citizen of the United States, residin at Hoquiam, in the county. of Chehalis and tate of Washington, have inventeda new and useful Railway-Train-Stopping Device, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to devices for automatically stopping railway-trains, and has for its object to produce a simply-constructed and easily-applied apparatus whereby in event of the destruction or displacement of any portion of the track or track-supports the brakes on the approaching train will be actuated and the train stopped independently of any action of the train crew or other person, whether on or off the train.

With these and other objects in view, which Will appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in certain novel features of construction, as hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which corresponding parts are denoted by like designating characters, is illustrated the preferred form of embodiment of the invention capable of carrying the same into practical operation, it being -understood that the inventionis not necessarily limited thereto, as various changes in the shape, proportions, and general "assemblage of the parts may be resorted to without departing from the principle of the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages.

In the drawings thus employed,Figure l'is a side elevation of a section of a railway trac'k, together with a bridge over which the track passes, with the improvement applied. Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the brake-tripping mechanism. Fig. 3 is a detail view'illustrat-" ing a modified form of the device employed for protection of a train from the danger of abnormal rise of water beneath a bridge or; Fig. 4 is a side elevation, and Fig. 5 is a plan view, of a portion of a dr'awbridgej. and a portion of one of the approaches, illus-g trating the application of the improvements trestle.

thereto. 1

In the improved apparatus is comprised a frangible or combustible element for location adjacent to portions of the track liable to destruction by fire or otherwise or to displacement from any cause, a trip mechanism located adjacent to the track and at a sufficient distance from the frangible member to give the train ample time to be brought to a stand 'tion,

by the action ofitsbrakes before reaching the dangerous l y, means Carried by the train and associated with its brakes,

"whereby the latter will be set by engagement with the trip member'in event of the fracture ofthe frangible member. I

The frangible member may be of any suit- "able material, either WOOdOI' easily-breakable metal or'of some readily-combustible material or-substance, but will preferably be of light wood, sucha'spin'e, which, while read 'ily' combustible or easily fracturable, is of sufficient strength to retain the trip mechanism in inoperative position while'in intact condi- The frangible member may also be 10- cated at any suitable place upon the struc- 'ture which is liable "to'bede'stroyed, preferablyat theweakestpoint, so that its fracture or destruction will take place at an early pe- "riod of the destructive action or at an early period of the conflagration.

The device will be employed'upon' bridges,

trestles, embankments, and similar structures and for the purpose of illustration is shown applied, "as at "10, to a conventional railvn' ay-brid'ge 11, spanning a creek, (indicated at 12,) the member 10 being in the "form of awooden'strip of relatively small size and extending the whole length of the'bridge. For small bridges one simple length of the strip may be suflicien'tjbut in longer bridges or otherstructures several strips may be emplj0yed,"oonnected in any suitable manner.

Located "adjacent to the railway -'tra'cks (represented "at 13) and spaced for a considerable distance from the bridge structure 11 "at either "side of the same are trip-levers 14, pivoted at one end, as to one of the ties15, for extension vertically, as in full lines in Fig. 2, or'in horizontal"position, as in full lines in Fig.1 or dotted lines in Fig. 2. Wires or cables'16 connect the shorter ends of the levers into the opposite ends of the frangible member 10 andwill' be drawn sufficiently taut to tact. Attachedto each of thelevers at one end is a rod 17, the other end of the rods being attached to crank-arms 18, the latter in turn pivoted, as at 19, to one of the ties 15 by the .short arm and with a weight 20 carried by hold the levers in their'horizontal positions so'l'ong as the frangiblemember remains 'infore, as the member 10 remains intact the levers 14 will be retained in horizontal or inoperative position; but in event of the fracture of the member 10 the weights will instantly elevate the levers or dispose them in vertical or operative position.

The trains being equipped with air-brakes, a brake-setting mechanism will be attached to one or more of the coaches or cars or to the locomotive of the trains running upon the track 13, and for the purpose of illustration a conventional device of this character is shown in Fig. 1, consisting of a small triplever or valve-operating arm 18, connected to the train-pipe 19 of the air-brake system; but as these brake systems are so well known and as they form no part of the present invention it is not deemed necessary to further illustrate them. The arm 18 extends into the paths of the trip-arms 14 when the latter are elevated or inoperative position, but will pass over the same when depressed or in inoperative position, as will be obvious.

The railway-line will be equipped with the frangible members and the trip-levers at all points along the road-bed liable to be burned, Washed out, or otherwise destroyed or displaced, and so long as the tracks remain intact and in operative condition the trip-levers 14 will be maintained in inoperative or depressed position; but in event of the fracture of one of the frangible members, as by the destruction by fire or otherwise of the structure 11 with which it is associated, the weight 20 will instantly throw the trip-levers 14 into vertical position or into the path of the brake-trips 18 of the first train that approaches, thus automatically setting the rakes thereon and stopping the train before it reaches the danger-point.

The trip-levers 14'will be. located at any required distance from the structure 11, the distance being controlled by presence or absence of grades or curves, but will be far enough, as before stated, to give the train ample time to be brought to a stand before it reaches the danger-point.

The device may be employed to set the brakes upon the train approaching a bridge in event of an abnormal rise of water, which might endanger the safety of the bridge, and when thus used a float, as at 21 in Fig. 3, will be suspended in position to fracture the member lQby the rising of the water (represented at, 12) to the danger stage. The device may also be employed for setting the brakes on a train approaching a drawbridge in event of the latter being inadvertently opened, and the manner of applying the improved device under such circumstances is illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, wherein the frangible member 10 is confined by keepers 22 23, one on the approach 24 ofthe bridge and the other upon the draw, (represented at 25,) the member'lO having a pm 26 to prevent its being drawn through the keepers by the strains of the cable or wire 16. It will thus be obvious that so long as the bridgeremains closed, as in Figs. 4 and 5, the strain. of the cable will hold the trip-lever 14 depressed; but any lateral movement of the bridge will fracture the member 10 and release the weight 20 and set the trip member into operative position in the same manner as in the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The base member 27, supporting the lever 14, is formed with 'a stop 28 to limit the movement in one direction, so that the contact of the brake-tripping member 18 will be rigidly resisted and the positive action of the latter assured.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is 1. A brake-operating device comprising a brake-trip pivoted upon the track, a frangible body associated with the track, a line connected at one end to the brake-trip and at the other to the frangible body and arranged to hold the trip out of the path of the brake mechanism means whereby the frangible body is fractured and the trip released when the track is dislocated and means to raise the trip when released.

2. A brake-operating device comprising a brake-trip and weighted operating-lever pivoted upon the track, a frangible body associated with the track and arranged to be fractured by a dislocation thereof, and a line connected at one end to the frangible body and at the other to the trip and arranged to hold the trip out of the path of the brake mechanism while the frangible body is intact and to permit the trip to rise when the frangible body is broken.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

SHERMAN LIVINGSTONE CRAWFORD. 

